Chopsticks are the age-old universal and principal eating implement of the Far East, namely Japan, China, North and South Koreas. They are also used as a cooking utensil for sorting, mixing, and lifting ingredients. While they are predominantly made of wood or plastic, some esoteric ones are made of silver or ivory. They vary greatly in their length, thickness, tapering and cosmetics within countries and between countries.
True, efficient utilization of chopsticks requires that they be correctly held and manipulated in order to be used effortlessly, skillfully and effectively. Varying etiquettes and traditions relating to chopsticks have evolved over the ages in each country, but the manner of holding and manipulating them is universally and fundamentally the same.
To untrained or unaccustomed hands, in truth, however, the proper holding and manipulation of chopsticks can be a difficult, awkward or even formidable task. Various prior art devices have, especially in the last three decades, attempted to lessen this difficulty or aid untrained hands to use them. For the most part, the prior art devices have relied on a prong, tong, or pincer-like assembly of two elongated members connected, fastened or crossed at a certain pivotal location with a joined contact or a certain distal space between the members at the point of connection, creating a fulcrum(s) which allows the members to be pivoted and their front ends converged to grasp small objects.
While in purpose they are intended to provide an assembly that substitutes for or simulates the converging and grasping mechanism of properly wielded chopsticks, none virtually none of them achieve this result because they do not faithfully conform to the actual anatomy and mechanics of chopstick holding and manipulation.
Chopsticks are basically held with a first or lower stick resting in fixed or immobile position in the crotch between thumb and forefinger, and also against the side of the fourth finger at or just ahead of its first joint, and held there by pressure from the trunk of the thumb. The second or upper stick is, in turn, held by the tactile tips of the thumb and forefinger against the side of the middle finger in a pencil-holding grip. At first glance the confluence of these three appendages appears to provide a single or primary fulcrum for simply pivoting the upper stick merely up and down. But in reality the anatomy and mechanics involved in manipulating the upper stick are much more complex.
There are at least three other functionally important fulcrums located at the bases of the thumb, forefinger and middle finger. Each of these is a rotative joint which allows the appendage to be pivoted in various directions. In proper chopstick manipulation, the thumb's base joint functions to pivot the thumb sideways as well as inward toward the palm. In contrast, the forefinger and middle finger pivot and bend essentially in one direction, toward the palm. It is the combination of these three fulcrums functioning together, rather than the seeming and assumed principal or primary fulcrum at the confluence of the three appendages, that enables the upper stick to be depressed and descend, urged downward by the forefinger in concert with the middle finger and thumb.
Close observation reveals that due to the multijointed curvature, bending and flexing of the forefinger and middle finger, when the upper stick is urged downwardly by them to firmly contact the lower chopstick, the upper stick not only descends but distinctly moves forward along its own axis and its end will extend slightly beyond that of the lower stick upon contact.
This can be readily demonstrated and observed by, first, properly gripping a pair of chopsticks with the sticks approximately parallel to each other and pressing the forward ends against a flat surface such as table top perpendicular to the surface, to align the ends with each other. Then, second, by holding up the chopsticks horizontally and, next, depressing the upper one to contact the lower one.
If this is done in natural manner without deliberately and consciously attempting to compel the ends to stay aligned with each other when converged, one will find that the upper stick has moved forward (along its axis) in its descent, and its point now extends slightly beyond the lower stick's point at the convergence. This is especially true as pressure is applied to the upper stick as it contacts the other stick, or a small object about to be held by them. The pressure and resistance inherent in the contact produce a tension that urges the middle finger and forefinger to slightly flex forward, thus helping to place the upper stick ahead of the lower one. This invariably happens naturally in manipulating chopsticks, and it does not diminish their effectiveness. Objects are mostly approached by chopsticks at an oblique angle to begin with, and it does not matter that the upper stick is nominally disposed slightly ahead of the lower one upon contact with the object.
It is pertinent to note, however, that during the course of a meal practised users of chopsticks are often observed to press the points against a plate or the table top to realign them from time to time. This is because the ends do tend to become misaligned in continual use due to the forward inclination of the upper member. If not realigned from time to time, the upper member could progressively become disposed so far forward that convergence and grasping of objects would be impaired. This observable common behavior of practised users to realign the points of their chopsticks attests to the occurrence of forward axial movement of the upper stick when chopsticks are properly held and manipulated.
The use of chopsticks with a mechanism designed to assist in their use but which resists axial movement results in a noticeable, confining stiffness in converging the two members. Converge they will, but not in the natural manner of properly manipulated chopsticks, and prolonged use will predictably and rapidly cramp and tire the fingers.
The only known prior art device designed to assist in the use of chopsticks which provides for sufficient axial movement of the upper chopstick so as to accurately simulate the use of chopsticks without aid is disclosed in Japanese patent No. 36-16887, issued June 26, 1961 to Matsuya Department Store. The present invention represents a substantial improvement to the said device in that it teaches the fabrication of the spring and chopstick-securing means from a single blank of material without requiring any fasteners or connecting means to attach the various parts of the assembly. In addition, the present invention teaches a new and different structural formation by which the chopsticks are automatically secured to the working spring band and whereby chopsticks of differing dimensions are flexible and readily received and secured without the requirement for affixing together any two separate parts of the assembly or spring unit with fasteners or other similar means. By virtue of the improvements taught by the present invention, an integral, effective and inexpensive device for aiding in the use of chopsticks can be efficiently manufactured using known techniques requiring only the molding and bending of various parts of a single blank of material.